Spencer Lacrosse London

The Holder Trophy - Junior Tournament

03 Nov 2002

The Holder Trophy (a junior six-a-side tournament) held at the Spencer Club.

Under 14’s Group – Placed 5th

The U14 Group were a little under strength and Will Walker and Jake Pollock combined with some inexperienced Ernest Bevin lads to enter a team. This team, though never outclassed, struggled to put together enough consistent lacrosse and were eventually placed fifth. However, in Will and Jake we have two of the better players in this age group.

Under 12’s Group – Winners!

The U12 group had a different experience because as game time approached, the late withdrawal of a couple of guys left the team with five – one short! Some nifty work on the mobile by captain Patrick Neisen helped Finn Shannon over his transport problem and the team made full strength (senior players may be familiar with this scenario).The team could be optimistic as the core of Patrick, Finn and Hakim Abdul were playing their third season in the U12 group. Chris Howie had already proved himself last season and we were looking forward to see Matthew Leek play in his first competitive tournament and Tom play his first game in goal.

The team hit the ground running sweeping aside Bevin I (6 – 0) then Foxes I (8 – 3) and Bevin II by (5 – 3), though Foxes did show improvement as their game progressed. Winning the fourth game 4 – 0 against rivals Welwyn paved the way to the final. The score was a little surprising though our team’s good offensive dodging mixed with willingness of Finn and Matt to pass to the open man was difficult to confine. The mobile offence was built on the rock solid defence of Hakim Abdul and sound goal keeping of Tom Duthie and the combination had been too much for any opposition on the way to the final.

The final itself was a re – match against Foxes I whose own improvement had continued through the afternoon. Spencer started with two goals from Patrick Neisen dodging in from behind the left goal post but a lack of concentration in front of our own goal let Foxes draw level by half – time. Foxes took the lead halfway through the second period and with tension mounting, the game was tied in the dying seconds by Chris Howie with an outside shot which left their goalie stranded.

‘Sudden Death’ overtime began with Foxes driving down on our goal with the following outside shot being well saved by Tom Duthie. The game continued this way and that and with the tension mounting, the decisive moment approached. Spencer were awarded possession behind the Foxes left goal post. Patrick Neisen picked up the ball in what had seeed his favourite position and smoothly dodged his way to the winning shot.